WeTried Translations

Translator: ZEROSUGAR

Editor: Abstract

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◈ Regression is Too Much

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Chapter 356

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Regression (4)

"Just a moment."

"Uh, y-yeah..."

I brushed off the shaggy beastman's hand and slowly focused on my body's condition. This was a pure body, completely free from the influence of the Hero trait. No internal bleeding. No weakened parts. My soul? Not exactly pristine, but good enough.

Side effects... none. Regression? Successful. I'd really, actually made it back to the past. Honestly, I'd thought "get strong enough first, then regress" was the more likely path, but I hadn't expected to regress this way.

Well, whatever. It didn't matter how I got here, as long as I got here. Success. A real, genuine success.

"...Whew."

Of course, succeeding didn't mean this was over. One massive task still remained.

"Sorry about that. I think I was a little too rough earlier. Honestly, I really like beastmen."

"...?"

There wasn't much time left. There was work to do.

Starting now, I was going to steer the Heavenly Demon's train of thought.

"Ji-won-ah, you remember the plan, right?"

A lot had happened in the meantime. For the one living through it, all of it had been one long, drawn-out journey.

Flash.

But to the Heavenly Demon, it had been nothing more than an instant. No, shorter than an instant. Like a film reel spliced together at the cut.

Right. The Heavenly Demon had regained consciousness. Success. He had regressed. There had been a faint sense of wrongness in that last moment, but it must have just been unfounded worry.

'Unpleasant.'

Experiencing "death" firsthand had been a fairly unpleasant experience. He'd lived a life of constant conflict, brushing right up against death's edge more times than he could count, but this was the first time he'd actually died. Not unbearable, but not the kind of experience he'd volunteer to go through again either.

Still, that settled it. The crisis had passed. He just needed to adjust his existing approach a little. Keep his distance from Kim Jun-ho, and slowly reclaim control of the body.

The Heavenly Demon's goal had always been one thing, then and now. Escape the Tower. Break free of this bondage.

In the previous cycle, wounded pride had made him admit "yes, I am the Heavenly Demon," but this cycle, he had no intention of letting that situation arise at all. He'd just pass the time acting like an ordinary "Guntar has regained consciousness," and at some point, he'd head back home.

Beastmen held a strong attachment to their homeland. Even a sudden announcement that he was returning home wouldn't raise suspicion. The Heavenly Demon spent his time slowly retracing his plan. One day, two days, three days... Kim Jun-ho would be coming soon. Better finish his preparations before then.

He spent his time quietly, carefully clawing back control without being noticed, and then, at some point.

"?!"

Guntar shot up from where he sat, purely on instinct. Control of consciousness had already reverted to the Heavenly Demon. And the fact that the Heavenly Demon had come forward meant.

"...Who is it."

That he'd sensed a threat to his life. That a crisis had arrived which Guntar couldn't handle. That the Heavenly Demon had to step in. The fur on his back bristled. His hands clenched with force that had nothing to do with his will. Every instinct in his body rang out in blaring alarm.

A presence so overwhelming it prickled the skin, radiating from down the hallway. Whoever this mysterious powerhouse was, they were unmistakably walking straight toward him. The target... was obvious. The Heavenly Demon.

A formidable opponent. One he couldn't beat without unleashing his true power. How long had it been since he'd faced an enemy this strong? Setting archangels aside, there hadn't been anyone, at least not in this universe.

Someone strong enough that even the Heavenly Demon couldn't guarantee victory. An ordinary person would've been swallowed by fear, or overthought things until they were devoured in turn.

"Who do you think you are, walking up here so insolently."

The Heavenly Demon, on the contrary, broke into a wide grin. If there's a strong enemy, crush it. If there's an obstacle, leap over it. The Heavenly Demon doesn't stop. He only overcomes.

Regressing when wounded? Staying mindful of the archangels' watching eyes? Escaping the Tower? Getting away from Kim Jun-ho, who was coming soon? Important. Of course all of that was important.

If the other side attacks first, well, can't be helped, can it?

He finished preparing to unleash his true power. Not having fully reclaimed control over his body? Didn't matter. This was an opponent he couldn't beat without going all out anyway. Come at me. I'll take you on.

Wearing a grin thick with anticipation and competitive fire, the Heavenly Demon watched the door.

"..."

He confirmed the identity of the intruder who opened the door and stepped in, and could do nothing but freeze solid.

A familiar face. And that was exactly the problem.

"Heavenly Demon."

An overwhelming aura, so intense it felt like it was boiling. A tremendous force powerful enough to make even the Heavenly Demon, who had never known defeat, tense up without meaning to. And one man, calmly holding that power in check.

"Good to see you."

It was Kim Jun-ho.

Kim Jun-ho had come to find the Heavenly Demon.

Wrapped in a strength so overwhelming it was hard to believe.

As for the secret behind getting stronger in such a short span, well, I used the Hero trait. I used beastmen to quickly build up fame, declared myself the "protector of beastmen," and spread that image across the entire universe. It wasn't exactly a runaway success, not every beastman supported me, and even the ones who did weren't all that fervent about it, but with a scale as massive as "the universe," I still managed to get satisfyingly strong.

Did I plan to win by fighting him? No. Objectively speaking, the Heavenly Demon was still stronger in raw power. Even if I somehow pushed the Hero trait to its limit and got even stronger from here, beating the Heavenly Demon would still be a stretch.

Let's assume I could match his weight class. Similar height, similar build... but even under those conditions, I had no chance of winning.

For one thing, I didn't really know how to fight at my strongest. I'd barely ever gone "all out" with the tremendous power lodged in my body, let alone clashed with another living thing using it. I was holding a huge sword and knew roughly how to swing it, but I'd never actually fought with it.

The Heavenly Demon, on the other hand, was a battle-hardened veteran of a hundred wars. Not just good at fighting, but good at fighting in the "damn, that's terrifying" sense. He'd be able to use his power perfectly, and he'd pull out applications I'd never even seen before.

Couldn't I just get used to it through repeated regression? No. Getting used to it came with plenty of problems of its own.

Even if I invested an absurd amount of time and somehow got my hands on skill, experience, and strength to rival the Heavenly Demon's, I still regressed the instant I took a single hit. "Winning without taking a single hit" wasn't easy even against opponents lighter than me, and against someone in the same weight class, it was basically impossible. (On top of that, there was the added restraint of never triggering joint regression in the process.)

So to beat the Heavenly Demon in a fight, I'd need to become far, far stronger than him, which, well, that's a long way of saying it's simply not possible.

Back to the point. If I wasn't going to fight and win, why bother showing up all bulked up? There was a reason. To be precise, there was my "intent."

Let's think about this from the Heavenly Demon's side instead of mine. He knew the human called Kim Jun-ho.

Before he regressed, he'd watched me to the point of exhaustion. How much I loved beastmen, how strong I was, how kind I could be. So I already belonged to the category of "someone he knew," as far as the Heavenly Demon was concerned.

And now that someone he knew, once time rewound, suddenly showed up saying "good to see you," bulging with overwhelming strength.

"I've been watching you this whole time."

"..."

"You've been doing well."

My tone of voice was completely different, my expression, my voice, and above all, my grasp of "strength" itself was on another level entirely, beyond comparison. To anyone watching, I looked like a completely different person. And more than anything, the fact that I'd bluntly called out his identity as "Heavenly Demon."

Put yourself in his shoes. If someone you knew turned out to be a regressor, went off to the future, went through all kinds of hell, got his hands on tremendous power, then came back to the past, and happened to notice the Heavenly Demon who'd tricked him using his own ability, and was now deceiving that opponent in turn to settle the matter, would you think that?

"...An angel?"

Or would you think some being other than the one you knew had slipped into that body?

There was no halo. No sacred radiance, no tunic, no wings, nothing like that at all.

And yet that arrogant tone. That condescending attitude. It looked exactly like an angel to anyone watching. The Heavenly Demon had no choice but to be deceived. It wasn't a matter of strength. The situation itself left him no other conclusion to draw.

Once before, I had seen how angels treated the Tower's residents, the NPCs. They always used polite speech toward players, but only because players were "climbers" of the Tower. As a baseline, far more angels held humans in contempt than didn't.

More than that, in terms of "experience," I had far more experience actually seeing angels than the Heavenly Demon did. A gap in information. A situation that looked strange to anyone. An opponent who'd deliberately set the whole stage.

"..."

The Heavenly Demon's gaze sharpened. He was clearly, thoroughly deceived. His insides were probably churning with irritation and fury by now. Couldn't give him time here. No telling what rash move the Heavenly Demon might make.

I'd already shown him everything I wanted him to see. All that was left was to wrap it up.

Snap.

I flicked my fingers, detonating the mana inside my body. Time naturally began to reverse.

"I'll be watching."

As for the core of this whole plan.

[You have taken damage.]

[Returning to the moment of first entry on Floor 28.]

"Guntar-ssi! I'm here to save you!!!"

"..."

After regressing, I had to act like I knew absolutely nothing.

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